SPRADLING, CHERRY EDNA CATRON

by Frances Jane Blackburn

Entry F399 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

                (1895-1984)

Cherry Edna Catron was born August 30,
1895, somewhere in Duel County, Nebr., the
first of six children of Jennie and Edmun
Enoch Catron. In the absence of a doctor her
grandmother, Harriet Jane Miller Catron,
help with her birth. Her brothers are Ken-
neth Eugene and Jack Delos Catron.

In 1900 she came with her parents to
Mullen, and attended school there. She
attended St. Marks Episcopal School for
Girls in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and
became a teacher, teaching in country schools
in Hooker County. One of these schools was
the Simonson school 2 1/2 - 3 miles NW of
Mullern. Another was northeast of Mullen.
She often told about a blizzard that descen-
ded one day while teaching at one of these
country schools. Snow was so thick and wind
was so strong she couldn't see which way to
direct her horse. She let him have the reins,
kicked him in the ribs and he took her
straight home to the barn. Kenneth remem-
bers someone telling him about wolves that
followed her home.

She rode the range with her father, learning
much about the needs and ways of stock. He
taught her about the Sandhills region, where
the best springs of water were, and the best
places to stop to rest. Oftentimes they would
stop at a little hut beside the river where he
kept a supply of flour, shortening, baking
powder and coffee. He would whip up a batch
of biscuits and a pot of coffee and they would
sit in the cottage out of the weather to eat
their meal`

She met Raymond Edward Spradling in
Mullen and they were married in Denver,
Colorado, On September 12, 1916. They had
two daughters, Frances Jane and Harriet
Elizabeth.

In 1937 she moved to Oakland, California,
became a certified Cosmetologist and opened
her own beauty salon. In 1963 she and Ray
moved to Santa Rosa, California, where she
lived until her death in September 1984.